A 35-year-old Sichuan Province woman has become the sixth person to die of bird flu in China, the Ministry of Health said yesterday.

The Jianyang City woman, surnamed Wei, became ill on January 3 and was hospitalized seven days later with fever and pneumonia. She died on January 11.

A day later, her blood samples tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus at the Sichuan provincial center for disease control and prevention.

China's CDC later re-tested her samples and also reported positive results.

There was no information on why the death was not reported until yesterday. The case brings China's total number of human infections from the bird flu virus to nine.

Medical investigators said that eight families living in the same courtyard as Wei reported that some of their poultry became sick and died from late December to early January.

People who had been in close contact with the victim were under observation yesterday by local health authorities. So far, no abnormal symptoms have been reported.

Meanwhile, China's eighth bird flu patient — a 6-year-old Hunan Province boy — is out of danger and on the road to recovery, doctors said.

The boy, surnamed Ouyang, suffered serious lung damage and was confirmed to be carrying the H5N1 bird flu virus on January 9.

"The boy is now getting on well. He has gained more than 1 kilogram, and his lungs have improved," said Zhu Yimin, president of the Hunan Provincial Children's Hospital.